Building entrance protectors are used to provide telephone lines from the telephone company's street cables to multiple tenants of residential or commercial buildings. Typically telephone wire line pairs extend into a splicing connector disposed within the housing of the building entrance protector. Telephone wire lines are then provided to a protection panel that functions to suppress transient electrical signals resulting from thunderstorms and other environmental noises. Telephone wires are then extended to various tenant locations within the building via a cross-connect block. The building entrance protectors may be installed either inside or outside of the building.
In many instances it may become necessary to extend several telephone lines from the building entrance protector housing to a single tenant unit in the building. One way to accomplish such a connection is to run individual lines from the protector housing to the desired tenant unit. However, this approach is very costly. It takes a long time to run individual wires to a location inside the building. Furthermore, maintaining such lines could also be time consuming and expensive.
Another approach to extend several telephone lines from the building entrance protector housing to a single unit in the building is to employ an interconnection system known as the RJ 21 connector. Typically, several telephone line pairs are bundled within a cable, which terminates at one end with a male or female RJ 21 interconnect plug. The other end of the cable is open so that the individual wires could be connected to connection pins disposed within the cross-connect block of the entrance protector terminal. Another cable that includes an appropriate RJ 21 interconnect plug engages with the building entrance protector terminal RJ 21 interconnect plug and extends to the desired unit within the building.
However, in order to protect the individual lines from possible tampering, it is necessary to install a separate RJ 21 housing module, adjacent to the building entrance protector housing. The separate module is connected to the building entrance protector terminal. The module comprises a housing unit that has a knockout section on the side that is disposed next to the building entrance protector terminal. The building entrance protector terminal also includes a knockout section on the side that is disposed next to the RJ 21 housing module. Telephone wires are then extended from the inside of the building entrance protector terminal to the RJ 21 housing module via their corresponding knockout sections. The addition of the RJ 21 housing module leads to additional cost and requires additional space, which may not be feasible.
An additional problem with the RJ 21 housing arrangement mentioned above is the difficulty to remove the knockout sections when they are located in the middle of a flat sidewall surface. Removing the knockout sections requires the use of a cutting tool, such as a utility knife, which is very dangerous to handle and could easily cause injuries.
Thus there is a need for an expedient and inexpensive arrangement to provide easy access to a terminal housing so that for example, RJ 21 interconnect plugs may be mounted without the disadvantages mentioned above.